Valley Cubs making do
- Updated: December 19, 2016
Alexandria beats Glencoe in Champions Christmas Classic, comes through its rash of injuries with its second win in four games
Weaver’s London Knight (center) is caught between Westbrook’s John Catanzaro (2) and Cullen Stafford during their game Monday. (Photos by B.J. Franklin/GungHo Photos)
Monday’s Games
BASKETBALL
Jacksonville Christian 57, Donoho 52
Wadley 82, Wellborn 67
Champions Sports Academy Boys Christmas Classic
Lincoln 54, Jacksonville 39
Westbrook Christian 71, Weaver 70
Alexandria 66, Glencoe 41
Ohatchee 60, St. Clair County 50
Cherokee Invitational, Gaylesville
Gaylesville 56, Gaston 55
Spring Garden 61, Sand Rock 49
Chattooga (Ga.) 77, Cedar Bluff 49
Collinsville 57, Piedmont 41
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
When a team loses as much firepower in as short a period of time as the Alexandria basketball team has, it’s easy to have apprehension about the road ahead.
But the Valley Cubs have come through the start of the gauntlet about as well as could be expected — some might say better. They won for the second time in four games with their patchwork lineup Monday, beating Glencoe 66-41 in the opening round of the Champions Sports Academy Christmas Classic.
The Valley Cubs (7-3) will play Springville when the tournament resumes Wednesday.
The Cubs went into the season already two potential starters down, then lost Dalton Dodd and Jamal Tucker to ankle injuries in the Oxford game. They got Jamal Tucker back for Southside, but then lost Josh Tucker (foot) in the first half.
It’s been four games now since the rash of injuries hit and the Valley Cubs are 2-2 in that stretch; they just as easily could be 4-0. The two wins came convincingly and both losses came in overtime.
“We’ve lost some big guys, but our other guys off the bench have stepped up and played big,” Jake Weathington said. “I figured we’d have our guys off the bench step up like they have. I’m very proud of our guys.”
The Valley Cubs played three first-time starters against the Yellow Jackets, including an eighth-grader they promoted to enhance their post presence, and all 11 players who got in the game scored. Jamal Tucker was their leading scorer with 10 points, but six other players had at least six points. That balance has been the secret to their success to weathering the storm.
“I’ve been pleased,” Alexandria coach Jason Johnson said. “During the season you’re going to have some adversity, so we try to be prepared for that. I always try to create us a lot of depth, rotation of 10 or 12 guys, just in case something like this happens – and this is the first time it’s ever really happened.
“A lot of these young guys haven’t had a lot of opportunities, so for them to get an opportunity and then succeed as a coach that’s always pleasing. Kind of like being a parent when you see your child do well it really pleases. They work hard in practice and it was good to see them have some success.”
The game was close early, but the Valley Cubs pulled away in the second quarter and led by 13 at halftime. Chase Smitherman scored a rare seven-point play early in fourth quarter to push the lead to 27. It started with a three-point play, then he sank two technical foul shots that got attached to it and he made the basket on the ensuing possession.
Weaver coach Daryl Hamby lamented his team not doing enough to contain Westbrook’s Will Jones (1).
Westbrook Christian 71, Weaver 70
The Bearcats beat Westbrook in the final of this tournament last year when it was played at Gadsden State, but this year they just weren’t consistent or focused enough to win the rematch in the opening round.
The Bearcats were down nine going into the fourth quarter, but a 7-0 run at the start of the quarter got them back in it. They just didn’t take the proper approach down the stretch to pull it out.
They trailed 70-67 with less than 30 seconds left. Maurice Goodman missed a 3-pointer with 21 seconds to go, but the Bearcats missed two shots from in close with 6.2 seconds left before Tyler Self made one of two free throws to make it a four-point game with only seconds remaining.
Goodman threw in a three-quarters-court shot at the buzzer that left the Bearcats one point short.
“That’s what happens when you get silly,” Weaver coach Daryl Hamby said. “We’ve got to be smart, got to have a high basketball IQ, at least a decent basketball IQ; we don’t understand basketball.
“I blame it on the people who invented PlayStation, that’s the ones. They have ruined basketball, and all this crap in the NBA. They all think they’re all NBA players and they can’t make a good high school team right now. We just have to get better at what we do.
“Our main thing is focus. We’re not going to be successful if we don’t get focused. Winning is about consistency, it’s not about spurts.”
Goodman and London Knight both had 22 points for Weaver. On his 3-pointer at the end of the game Goodman said, “I just threw it.”
REGULAR SEASON
JCA 57, Donoho 52
The most redeeming quality JCA coach Tommy Miller could find about this one is the Thunder (5-4) came out of it with their first area win of the season.
Although they did have the lead after every quarter they didn’t play particular well, and they needed a big close by Reed Murphy to pull it off.
Murphy scored eight of his team’s final 10 points after Donoho’s Jacob Lecroy hit four free throws with 2:53 to play to tie the game at 47. Murphy finished with 24 points; he scored 18 in the fourth quarter.
“That’s the worse game we played in probably five or six years,” Miller said. “We didn’t look like our head was in it. Our shots were off, which is part of basketball, but we had turnovers tonight that were totally unnecessary.
“It’s good to get out of here with a win. They played hard and they actually deserved to win the game because they outplayed us, but we did get out of here with a win, so I’m grateful for that. It could’ve been worse.”
All the missed shots provided plenty of opportunities for rebounds. Murphy grabbed 16. Walker Messer had 10 to go with his 13 points. Jaden Mitchell had 11 rebounds.
CHAMPIONS SPORTS ACADEMY CHRISTMAS CLASSIC
Lincoln 54, Jacksonville 39
LINCOLN – Christyan Prince 5-9 1-1 14, L.J. Carmichael 4-9 5-7 13, Donte Rivers 3-10 1-4 9, Brikeal Truss 1-3 2-4 4, Timothy Davis 2-2 0-0 4, Patrick Gaddis 1-2 1-2 4, Malik Weed 1-7 0-0 2, Earl Wells 1-2 0-0 2, Shamar Hampton 1-1 0-0 2, Cody Williams 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 19-48 10-18 54.
JACKSONVILLE – Rivan Hill 5-12 5-5 16, Jacob Theilsen 3-5 0-0 6, DeAndre McCain 2-9 0-0 6, Alex Davis 2-4 1-1 5, Alex Gilbert 2-4 0-0 5, Hunter Vinson 0-2 1-2 1, Jay Davis 0-5 0-0 0, Quinn Long 0-2 0-0 0, Josh Glass 0-0 0-0 0, K.J. Satcher 0-0 0-0 0, Ron Wiggins 0-3 0-0 0, Jesse Wilson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-46 7-8 39.
Lincoln 14 10 18 12 — 54
Jacksonville 14 5 6 15 — 39
3-point goals: Lincoln 6-17 (Prince 3-6, Rivers 2-6, Gaddis 1-2, Weed 0-2, Williams 0-1); Jacksonville 4-15 (Hill 1-4, McCain 2-7, Gilbert 1-1, Vinson 0-1, Long 0-2). Rebounds: Lincoln 31 (Prince 7, Carmichael 8); Jacksonville 32 (Hill 8, A. Davis 7). Total fouls: Lincoln 11, Jacksonville 16.
Westbrook Christian 71, Weaver 70
WESTBROOK – Will Jones 6 5-8 20, John Catanzaro 4 5-9 13, Cullen Stafford 2 0-0 5, Stuart Douglas 1 0-0 2, Alex Burnett 1 0-0 2, Tyler Self 4 4-10 12, Trey Bearden 3 3-7 9, Braden Beecham 3 2-4 8, Caeden Godfrey 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 19-38 71.
WEAVER – Maurice Goodman 8 4-9 22, London Knight 7 6-6 22, Robert Gaines 1 0-0 2, Paul Hubbard 3 1-2 7, Chris Lemon 0 1-4 1, Dalton Hamby 0 2-4 2, R.J. Wooden 1 2-2 5, Shamar Spinks 1 0-0 2, Amardric Elston 3 1-4 7. Totals 24 17-31 70.
Westbrook 19 15 20 17 — 71
Weaver 19 15 11 25 — 70
3-point goals: Westbrook 4 (Jones 3, Stafford); Weaver 5 (Goodman 2, Knight 2, Wooden). Fouled out: Bearden, Gaines, Elston. Total fouls: Westbrook 23, Weaver 27.
Alexandria 66, Glencoe 41
GLENCOE – Brandon Bishop 2 4-4 10, Aaron Bush 0 0-2 0, Dylan Billingsley 3 0-0 6, Noah Huff 0 0-2 0, Justin Barkley 1 2-2 4, Sam Holbooks 6 0-0 12, Micah Sizemore 1 0-0 12, Jakeb Amberson 1 4-7 7, Paul Hicks 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 10-17 41.
ALEXANDRIA (7-3) – Devan Grant 3 1-4 8, Chase Smitherman 2 3-3 7, Austin Taylor 1 0-1 3, Jake Weathington 3 1-1 8, Dru Davis 2 2-3 6, Jaylon Cunningham 1 0-4 2, Romeo Dye 3 2-2 6, Jamal Tucker 4 2-2 10, Jared Ponder 2 2-2 6, Kagan Hollingsworth 1 0-0 2, Landon Williams 2 2-2 4. Totals 24 15-24 66.
Glencoe 12 5 6 18 — 41
Alexandria 13 14 16 23 — 66
3-point goals: Glencoe 3 (Bishop 2, Amberson); Alexandria 3 (Grant, Taylor, Weathington). Technical fouls: Amberson. Total fouls: Glencoe 20, Alexandria 14. Officials: Holmes, Lemon, Evans.
Ohatchee 60, St. Clair County 50
ST. CLAIR COUNTY – Sam Bruce 5 0-0 14, Colby Smith 0 0-0 0, Michael Fisher 3 0-0 7, Garrett Sanders 1 0-4 2, Grayson Beatty 5 1-3 12, Justin May 1 0-0 3, Temothee Smith 5 1-1 11. Totals 20 2-8 50.
OHATCHEE – Blake Buckelew 0 0-0 0, Ben Glass 5 1-4 14, Grayson Alward 3 1-3 9, Stone 1 0-0 2, Kevin Williamson 1 0-0 2, Domonique Thomas 0 1-2 1, Austin Tucker 8 2-3 18, Roberts 0 1-2 1, Lowe 1 0-0 2, C.J. Ray 7 2-2 16. Totals 26 8-16 60.
St. Clair County 16 12 13 9 — 50
Ohatchee 20 8 17 15 — 60
3-point goals: St. Clair County 8 (Bruce 4, Fisher 2, Beatty, May). Total fouls: St. Clair County 13, Ohatchee 13. Officials: Eric Stringer Sr., Eric Stringer Jr., Judge Stringer III. Notes: Ray scored 14 in the second half, 10 in the fourth quarter.
CHEROKEE INVITATIONAL
Collinsville 57, Piedmont 41
PIEDMONT – A.J. Fairs 3 0-0 8, Cardavion Myers 5 2-3 13, Taylor Hayes 1 2-4 4, Derrick Baer 1 0-0 3, Easton Kirk 0 0-0 0, Carl Myers 2 0-0 5, Austin Brazier 1 0-0 2, Weston Kirk 3 0-1 6, T.J. Fairs 0 0-0 0, Kaeden Jenkins 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 4-8 41.
COLLINSVILLE – Caleb Pruitt 0 0-0 0, DeAndre Orr 3 0-0 9, Josh Jones 2 1-3 5, Jesus Garcia 1 0-0 3, Steven Wash 2 2-4 6, Kaleb Jones 5 4-4 16, Gerald Blakely 1 1-2 3, Austin Posey 5 2-2 15. Totals 19 10-15 57.
Piedmont 12 12 8 9 — 41
Collinsville 8 15 16 18 — 57
3-point goals: Piedmont 5 (A. Fairs 2, Cd. Myers, Baer, Cl. Myers); Collinsville 9 (Orr 3, Garcia, Jones 2, Posey 3). Technical fouls: Piedmont coach Lewis, Hayes. Fouled out: Hayes. Total fouls: Piedmont 13, Collinsville 9. Officials: Campbell, Battles, Malka.
REGULAR SEASON
Jacksonville Christian 57, Donoho 52
JCA (5-4) – Elijah McCormack 1 0-0 2, Walker Messer 3 6-7 13, Kobe Messer 2 0-2 4, Nash Messer 2 0-0 5, Jayden Mitchell 1 0-0 2, Reed Murphy 8 8-7 24, Justin Tignor 2 3-4 7. Totals 19 17-20 57.
DONOHO (1-8) – Jason Howard 0 0-0 0, Jack Svensen 0 0-0 0, Garrett Steed 4 1-4 11, John Hutto 0 0-0 0, Jacob Lecroy 3 6-9 14, Mateen Ibrahim 0 1-2 1, Harrison Hughston 2 0-0 6, Joseph O’Neill 0 0-0 0, Saad Ibrahim 1 0-0 3, Wilson Russell 0 1-2 1, Will Nelson 2 2-4 6, Tucker Sedmak 2 6-10 10. Totals 14 17-31 52.
JCA 9 13 10 25 — 57
Donoho 6 13 12 21 — 52
3-point goals: JCA 2 (W. Messer, N. Messer); Donoho 7 (Steed 2, Lecroy 2, Hughston 2, S. Ibrahim). Technical fouls: McCormack. Fouled out: McCormack. Total fouls: JCA 20, Donoho 23. Officials: Oden, Stringer, Robinson.
Jacksonville’s Rivan Hill (5) tries to pass the ball around Lincoln’s L.J. Carmichael.
On the cover: Action from the Weaver-Westbrook game. To see more pictures from the Champions Sports Academy Christmas Classic, visit www.bjfranklin.smugmug.com
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